Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu and Fronsac, commonly referred to as Cardinal Richelieu , (9 September 1585–4 December 1642) was a French clergyman, nobleman, and statesman. He was consecrated as a bishop in 1607 and was appointed Foreign Secretary in 1616. Richelieu soon rose in both the Catholic Church and the French government, becoming a cardinal in 1622, and King Louis XIII's chief minister in 1624. He remained in office until his death in 1642; he was succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin, whose career he had fostered. Thirty Years' War Before Richelieu's ascent to power, most of Europe had become enmeshed in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). France was not openly at war with the Habsburgs, who ruled Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, so subsidies and aid were provided secretly to their adversaries.Wedgwood, p. 270. He considered the Dutch Republic as one of France's most important allies, for it bordered directly with the Spanish Netherlands and was right in the middle of the Eighty Years War with Spain at that time. Luckily for him, Richelieu was a bon français, just like the king, who had already decided to subsidize the Dutch to fight against the Spanish via the Treaty of Compiègne in June 1624, prior to Richelieu's appointment to Prime minister in August.A. Lloyd Moote: "Louis XIII, the Just", p. 135-136, p.178/ Wikipedia page Treaty of Compiègne (1624) That same year, a military expedition, secretly financed by France and commanded by Marquis de Coeuvres, started an action with the intention of liberating the Valtelline from Spanish occupation. In 1625 Richelieu also sent money to Ernst von Mansfeld, a famous mercenary general operating in Germany in English service. However, in May 1626, when war costs had almost ruined France, king and cardinal made peace with Spain via the Treaty of Monçon.A. Lloyd Moote, p.179-183, esp. 182 This peace quickly broke down after tensions due to the War of Mantuan Succession.Wedgwood, p. 247. In 1629, the Emperor Ferdinand II subjugated many of his Protestant opponents in Germany. Richelieu, alarmed by Ferdinand's growing influence, incited Sweden to intervene, providing money.Parker, 1984, p. 219. In the meantime, France and Spain remained hostile due to Spain's ambitions in northern Italy. At that time northern Italy was a major strategic item in Europe's balance of powers, serving as a link between the Habsburgs in the Empire and in Spain. Had the imperial armies dominated this region, France's very existence would have been threatened by Habsburg encirclement. Spain was meanwhile seeking papal approval for a universal monarchy. When, in 1630, French diplomats in Regensburg agreed to make peace with Spain, Richelieu refused to support them. The agreement would have prohibited French interference in Germany. Thus, Richelieu advised Louis XIII to refuse to ratify the treaty. In 1631, he allied France to Sweden, who had just invaded the empire, in the Treaty of Bärwalde. Military expenses placed a considerable strain on the King's revenues. In response, Richelieu raised the gabelle (salt tax) and the taille (land tax).Collins, p. 62. The taille was enforced to provide funds to raise armies and wage war. The clergy, nobility, and high bourgeoisie were either exempt or could easily avoid payment, so the burden fell on the poorest segment of the nation. To collect taxes more efficiently, and to keep corruption to a minimum, Richelieu bypassed local tax officials, replacing them with intendants (officials in the direct service of the Crown).Collins, p. 53. Richelieu's financial scheme, however, caused unrest among the peasants; there were several uprisings in 1636 to 1639.Munck, p. 48. Richelieu crushed the revolts violently, and dealt with the rebels harshly.Zagorin, pp. 8–12. Because he openly aligned France with Protestant powers, Richelieu was denounced by many as a traitor to the Roman Catholic Church. Military action, at first, was disastrous for the French, with many victories going to Spain and the Empire.Wedgwood, p. 452. Neither side, however, could obtain a decisive advantage, and the conflict lingered on after Richelieu's death. Richelieu was instrumental in redirecting the Thirty Years' War from the conflict of Protestantism versus Catholicism to that of nationalism versus Habsburg hegemony.Henry Bertram Hill, The Political Testament of Cardinal Richelieu, p. vii, supports general thesis. In this conflict France effectively drained the already overstretched resources of the Habsburg empire and drove it inexorably towards bankruptcy.Wedgwood, p. 450. The defeat of Habsburg forces at the Battle of Lens in 1648, and their failure to prevent French invasion of Catalonia, effectively spelled the end for Habsburg domination of the continent, and for the Spanish prime minister Olivares' personal career. Indeed, in the subsequent years it would be France, under the leadership of Louis XIV, who would attempt to fill the vacuum left by the Habsburgs in the Spanish Netherlands and supplant Spain as the dominant European power. New World When Richelieu came to power, New France, where the French had a foothold since Jacques Cartier, had no more than 100 permanent inhabitants.Cercle Richelieu Richelieu encouraged Louis XIII to colonize the Americas by the foundation of the Compagnie de la Nouvelle France in imitation of the Dutch West India Company. Unlike the other colonial powers, France encouraged a peaceful coexistence in New France between Natives and Colonists and sought the integration of Indians into colonial society."Le grand atout de la France est d’avoir mis en place des conditions favorisant les établissements stables, grâce aux alliances avec les peuples autochtones." Cercle Richelieu Kenneth M. Morrison, The Embattled Northeast: The Elusive Ideal of Alliance in Abenaki-Euramerican Relations, 1984, p.94 Samuel de Champlain, governor of New France at the time of Richelieu, saw intermarriage between French and Indians as a solution to increase population in its colony.Roger L. Nichols, Indians in the United States and Canada: A Comparative History, 1999, p.32 Under the guidance of Richelieu, Louis XIII issued the Ordonnance of 1627 by which the Indians, converted to Catholicism, were considered as "natural Frenchmen": References ;Bibliography * Collins, James B. The State in Early Modern France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (1995) * Munck, Thomas. Seventeenth Century Europe, 1598–1700. London: Macmillan. (1990) * Parker, Geoffrey. Europe in Crisis, 1598–1648. London: Fontana. (1984) * Wedgwood, C. V. The Thirty Years' War. London: Methuen. (1981) * Zagorin, Perez. Rebels and Rulers, 1500–1660. Volume II: Provincial rebellion: Revolutionary civil wars, 1560–1660. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (1992) Resources * Alexander, Edward Porter. Museums in Motion: an introduction to the history and functions of museums. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield. (1996) * Auchincloss, Louis. Richelieu. Viking Press. (1972) * Bergin, Joseph. The Rise of Richelieu. Manchester: Manchester University Press. (1997) * Blanchard, Jean-Vincent. Eminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France (Walker & Company; 2011) 309 pages; a biography * Bonnaffé, Edmond. Recherches sur les collections des Richelieu. Plon. (1883) (French) * Cabanès, Augustin. "Le Médecin de Richelieu – La Maladie du Cardinal" and "L'Odyssée d'un Crane – La Tête du Cardinal", [https://archive.org/details/lecabinetsecretd04cabauoft Le Cabinet Secret de l'Histoire, 4e serie]. Paris: Dorbon Ainé. (1905) (French) * Dyer, Thomas Henry. The history of modern Europe from the fall of Constantinople: in 1453, to the war in the Crimea, in 1857. J. Murray. (1861) * Elliott, J. H. Richelieu and Olivares. Cambridge: Canto Press. (1991) * Fontaine de Resbecq, Eugène de. Les Tombeaux des Richelieu à la Sorbonne, par un membre de la Société d'archéologie de Seine-et-Marne. Paris: Ernest Thorin. (1867) (French) * Lodge, Sir Richard, and Ketcham, Henry. The life of Cardinal Richelieu. A.L. Burt. (1903) * Pardoe, Julia. The Life of Marie, volume 3. Colburn (1852); BiblioBazaar reprint (2006) * Perkins, James Breck. Richelieu and the Growth of French Power. Ayer Publishing. (1971) * Phillips, Henry. Church and Culture in Seventeenth Century France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (1997) * Pitte, Jean-Robert. La Sorbonne au service des humanités: 750 ans de création et de transmission du savoir, 1257–2007. Paris: Presses Paris Sorbonne. (2007) (French) * Treasure, Geoffrey. Richelieu and Mazarin. London: Routledge. (1998) * Trevor-Roper, Hugh Redwald. [https://books.google.com/books?id=x-qFISc3fXMC&printsec=frontcover Europe's physician: the various life of Sir Theodore de Mayerne]. Yale: Yale University Press. (2006) ISBN 978-0-300-11263-4 Category:Colonial France